Eat.

Ellie sat in bed two nights later and read over the same magazine over and over again. Rolling her eyes at last month's dresses, she dropped the magazine onto the floor and placed her arm over her eyes and prepared to sleep. She slept for about five minutes, and she dreamt of coming back home to Brian and thought of how he held her and how he kissed her and how he loved her. She also dreamt of her stepfather, her friends and even about people she hated. But a loud slam of the door jolted her out of bed. Today was the day, she thought, today is the day I'm getting out.

As usual, Mario came in the cabin in a drunken slur, but today he happened to be drunker than he was other days which was to her benefit. The drunker he was, the longer he would sleep.

“Elizabeth!” He yelled from the hallway, he came into the room with a half empty bottle of Jack in his hands.

“What?”

“Don't use that tone with me.” He growled.

“I use whatever tone I damn well please.”

“You're in for it now.” He laughed, staggering towards her, she got up quickly and ran to the other side of the room. Mario looked at his empty arms in confusion. “Get over here!” He yelled, running towards her. His agility was limited, he fell twice and on the third time, he dropped the bottle and spilled it.

“Wait til I get my fucking hands on you!”

Mario got up and grab the bottle again, rising it over his head and preparing to swing it. Ellie kicked his groin which made him drop the bottle in response. She picked it up on instinct and smashed the hard glass over his head, making him fall to the ground unconsciously. She waited a few minutes to see if he was out cold before she went into her dresser to retrieve the phone. She flipped it open and panicked when she saw the screen not turning on.

“No, no, no!” She cried, pressing on all the buttons, “You can't be dead!”

But it was true, the phone was in fact out of battery which left her to no choice but to come up with another idea. She paced back and forth when she noticed the bulge in Mario's pocket. Taking a deep breath, she took the remainder of the bottle and held the pointy bits to his jugular vein in case he decided to wake up. Reaching down into his pocket, she grabbed a hold of the keys and pulled them out slowly which made Mario's eyebrows twitch. She held the cool metal in her fingers and ran for the door, unlocking the car door and hopping inside. Ellie took a good look at the numbers on the house and made sure she memorized them.

3675...3675...3675 She chanted to herself.

Hours later, she made it to a gas station, she jumped out of the car and noticed that Mario took her far from home. Running into the store, she made her way immediately to the clerk and noticed the picture on the shelf.

It was her.

“Excuse me.”

“One minute sweetie,” The woman said, holding up a finger and chewing her gum obnoxiously, “No way that's his kid. He looks like Bernie to me.”

“Excuse me.” Ellie repeated a little bit louder.

“Hold on a bit longer it's important.” She said with a little bit more attitude.

Ellie frowned and began to take the brown contacts out of her eyes, “My name is Elizabeth Parker. I'm that girl on that paper now please,” she began to tremble and blink the tears from her eyes, “Please, call the police.”

The woman took the phone off her ear and looked at picture on the counter, her eyes widening when she realized it was her. “Listen, Mara, I'm gonna have to call you back.” The woman, Tammy, hung up the phone and hid the paper from her, “When's your birthday?”

“April 2nd, 1982.”

“What's your weight?”

“93 pounds.”

“Oh my God, honey come inside.” She gasped, pulling Elizabeth inside the counter and calling the police, “I'm so sorry I didn't listen.”

“It's...I forgive you.”

“Hello, yes? This is Tammy Fierwood, the missing girl Elizabeth Parker is right here in my shop. Yes. Right here. Make sure you bring the paramedics because she looks awful.”

Ellie frowned and Tammy mouthed a no offense.

Tammy then gave the police the location of the gas station and hung up, giving Elizabeth a couple of pies and chips to eat. Ellie thanked her and ate them slowly until the police came.

When they did, Detective Frost and Officer Baurd came in, Ellie was thankful to finally see a familiar face again.

“Ready to go Miss Elizabeth?” Frost asked with a smile.

Ellie broke into a sob, “Oh god yes.”

x-x

“Brian get up.” McKenna said, a stern grimace on her face as she smacked her brother's face repeatedly.

“Not now Mac, I don't really feel like it.”

“No bullshit.”

Brian raised an eyebrow in surprise, “Jesus, who taught you that?!”

“You. Get up.”

“I want to be alone.”

“You be alone too long. Let's color.”

“I'm bad at coloring.”

“I don't care.” She frowned, yanking at his ear and pulling him off the bed, “Up right now.”
Brian groaned and followed his sister out of bed and into the living room, where she had her crayons sprawled out in front of her. He took the blue crayon and began coloring in Cinderella absentmindedly. McKenna didn't like that at all, she liked having conversations with her brother.

“Bri?”

“Yeah?”

“How are you?”

He laughed at the question, “I could be a lot better.”

“Your turn.”

“For what?”

“How are you.”

“Oh right, how rude of me. How are you Mac?”

“I'm bad.”

“Is that so? Why?”

“Because you're sad.”

He frowned and continued to color in the dress, “I'm sorry.”

“You sad because Ellie gone.”

“Yeah I'm sad because Ellie is gone.”

“She'll come back soon.”

“I'm praying she does.”

“She will.”

Brian heard his phone ring and sighed, he smiled at McKenna and kissed her forehead before going up the stairs and answering it.

“Hello?”

“Brian?”

He froze at the voice on the other line, his hands began to sweat and his heart began to quicken, “Elizabeth?”

“I'm..I'm home.” She said, her voice cracking.

“Give me two minutes.” He hung up and ran down the stairs to retrieve his shoes and pick up McKenna who wouldn't stop asking, “Where are we going? Where are we going?”

Brian had to remind himself that he had to drive responsibly since his sister was in the car with him, but if she wasn't, then you better believe that he go past the speed limit twice.

Ellie's back, Ellie's back. He thought. She's finally back and she's okay.